The Behrend College
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Thursday, April 9, 1998
photo by Jason Blake
Perry Monument at Presque Isle State Park. Feature
story and photo essay on Presque Isle on page 8.
Delany reads fantasy and fiction
Will Jordan
rlter
"I am Black and I am Gay. - Sci
ence Fiction author Samuel R. Delany
read passages tom three of his books
last Thursday. Delany has written
over 30 hooks. Delany is a Professor
of Comparative Literature and is a
four time winner of the Nebula Award.
Assistant Professor of English Alan
Parker introduced Delany. Parker said
that in Delany's hooks, "gender is
fluid and race is mixed." Delany
opened by saying that about 20 to 25
years ago he started a project. That is
when he began writing "sorcery sto
ries." An example that he used to
describe his writing was "Conan the
Conqueror" where the story is placed
in the past instead of the future. The
work that he spoke of was "Tales of
Neveryon."
Delany then proceeded to say that
part of him is within each of his sto
ries. "I am Black and I am Gay",
Delany said as he spoke of what was
M his stories. He then said that "Tales
of Neveryon" filled up four volumes.
Delany also said that he did speak on
Trigon becomes more
active on campus
by Andrea Zaffino
editor in chief
Last Friday evening, in the lobby
of Perry Hall, Trigon hosted a party
based on the Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Student Alliance (LGBSA) Pride
Week that traditionally takes place at
University Park. This year the Pride
Week took place between March 29th
and April 4th and included events like
documentaries and student films, po
etry readings and social mixers.
This past year Trigon has been very
active, holding events like the Safer
Sex Cabaret, luncheons, and a Christ
mas dinner at one of the group's
advisor's house. These things have
been taking place "to show support
for the members of Trigon which is
the topic of AIDS in some of his sto
ries; however he uses a fantasy form
to talk about the topic. Delany wrote
one of his first novels on AIDS. The
story is about 3 young people. He
read a few passages from this story,
set in 1984. One of the passages read,
"AIDS is not a disease. It is connected
with sex and blood. Suddenly the
body gives up." Delany also used the
phrases "conceptual turbulence" and
"mid twentieth century orthodox
Freudian" in his story. The majority
of the passages he read dealt with sex,
age, and sexual orientation.
Delany's next reading was not fic
tion. It was called "The Motion of
Light and Water." It was his uiogra
phy. This story tended to jump around
from year to year. Delany simply said,
"I have a thing for jumping around
between places." The first passage
that he read took place in "Camp
Woodland" which was a summer
camp he attended when he was a
young boy. In the story, Delany said,
"I knew that I had come to a magic
place." He mentioned the name of
one of the camp directors, "Mary."
what the group is for," said Dan
Merson, Assistant to the Dean of Stu
dent Affairs, and the coordinator for
Trigon events.
"Trigon is trying to coordinate with
other campuses, especially University
Park," Merson said. The plan was to
have an event that would go along
with I_GB SA's Pride Week. The re
sult was the Perry Pride Party. How
ever, planning for the party didn't start
until about a week and a half before it
actually took place. This along with
the fact that many other activities
were going on that same night hin
dered attendance to the event. "We
were hoping we'd get a lot of people,
but about a dozen went." Merson said
of the event.
SGA issues report on
Station Road businesses
by Joct Kolano
staff writer
The results are in from 36 students
who answered the SGA student life
survey. Tim Smith, SGA Vice Presi
dent, introduced the report stating his
disappointment in the "lack of student
participation in the survey." The fol
lowing information was gathered
from the survey:
Of the students who responded, ten
live on campus and twenty six live off
campus.
32 of the students have access to a
ride at all times, four do not.
8 of the students said that they felt
isolated while 28 of the students ei
ther do not feel isolated to the cam
pus or just did not answer.
34 students felt that commercial
development would attract prospec
tive students, two did not.
23 students felt that the lack of de
velopment is a factor in the number
of students who transfer to Main Cam
pus, 13 did not think this way or did
not answer.
35 of the students were in favor of
alternative places to eat other than
Bruno's or Dobbins.
34 students were in favor of com
mercial development off campus.
He then jumped ahead in time to
when he was a teenager in Harlem,
New York. This next passage spoke
about the "Jewel Box Review" which
consisted of "female impersonators at
the Apollo." Delany used the term
"stately queens" to describe the fe
male impersonators. The show was
composeii of 30 people and only one
of them was a real woman. The idea
was to figure out which one was the
real woman by the end of the show.
At the end of the show the master of
ceremonies came out on stage and
asked the audience which one was the
real woman. After a while the master
of ceremonies revealed that she was
the real woman all along. The irony
was that the Master of Ceremonies
was the same person as the Camp
Director, "Mary." Delany then read
that he "never mentioned to anyone
in his family that he had gone."
The third story that he read from
was "Atlantis" which was different
from the other two stories. This story
was set in 1924 and was about a fa
ther and his gay son. The father had
come to New York City at the end of
Despite the lack of participation in
the last event, Trigon plans to hold
another get together before the end of
the year. Right now a "Beach Ball"
is planned for Tuesday, April 28th in
the Picnic Grove.
"What we're really trying to do is
increase the membership by the Fall
semester," Merson said. Next year
the group is planning to hold a forum
addressing religion and sexuality,
which will be cosponsored by the
Human Relations Programming
Council (HRPC). They also want to
send out an on campus mailing to all
faculty and staff in the Fall to explain
what the group is all about and give
out stickers for people to display to
show their support.
Erie, PA 16563 Published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend Colleee
Video rental, fast food, take-out,
eat-in, and convenience stores were
among the choices that students sup
ported for Station Road. Some other
suggestions included a Subway and
nightclubs.
The Student Life Committee has
contacted several local businesses
about locating near campus and are
awaiting their responses. SLC has
also been trying to work with Bruno's
"It feels like Housing and Food Services make you
drop your drawers and touch your toes."
in lowering the prices by encourag
ing value meals and other programs.
For anyone interested in giving sug
gestions concerning Bruno's, there is
a "Bruno's Meeting" every other
Wednesday at 7:00 PM.
Students seem to he interested in
seeing the Behrend College and its
surrounding community grow with
more business and recreational op
tions. 'There is a general desire for
something to do besides going to
1923. The main character was named
"Sam." The story takes place in both
North Carolina and New York City.
In the story the son reveals to his fa
ther that he is gay, the father acts
prejudiced toward the fact that his son
is gay, then at the end the father re
pents.
The final piece from which he read
passages was an essay that he had
written about teaching in a creative
writing class. It was titled "The Life
of Writing." In his essay, Delany re
ferred to love and Freud. He referred
to a student who had written an essay
as the "unsuspecting Sophocles." In
the essay, the student had written an
essay about an experience that he had
on a beach. However, the student had
totally exaggerated the whole thing.
Delany had told the "unsuspecting
Sophocles" that "There is nothing
wrong with lying in fiction, that is
what it's all about."
In the next segment of the lecture,
Delany answered questions from the
audience. One member of the audi
ence asked why he chooses to write
in the genre of fantasy. Delany an
swered by saying that he likes to write
things that he would read. He said
that he tries to write fantasies that no
one else writes and to put in the things
that other writers leave out.
Another member of the audience
asked Delany what he is currently
reading. Delany responded by say
ing that he reads "whatever is thrown
in my face." He then said that he is
currently reading Walter Pear. An
other member of the audience asked
Delany how much of himself does he
put into his stories. Delany answered,
"lots." He tries "not to have fiction
imitate the real but up to the real."
After Delany's talk, Mandy Smith,
02 Horticulture, said, "I thought he
was very interesting. The passages
that he read made me want to read his
books. His historical fiction book was
very interesting; how the one guy
Louis said how reading books and
meeting people were his origins, not
just Africa." Russell John-Baptiste,
02 Computer Science, said, "I thought
that he didn't let the audience sepa
rate his homosexuality from his work.
That may have made it harder for
people to look at him and his work
Bruno's or to Reed for a movie. Many
students feel that with added busi
nesses, the campus atmosphere would
drastically improve.
Several Behrend students com
mented last night about the possibil
ity of business and store development
near campus. Shawn Benson, 10,
Mechanical Engineering. said that
"there should be more of a variety
instead of only one bookstore. and one
Don Largcnt
JO. Mecham( (II ElWine(' ring
place to eat.-
Todd Benson, 02, DUS, felt that
"there needs to he a place on campus
to buy cigarettes."
Don "Juan" Largent, 10, Mechani
cal Engineering, exclaimed, "Defi
nitely! More businesses would defi
nitely he worth it!"
Another student, who wished to he
anonymous, asked "would we he able
to use our meal cards at a place such
as a McDonalds if it were erected on
photo by Ben Murphy
Samuel Delany reads from his recent work last Thursday
in the Reed Commons
objectively." Jamilla Ortman 02 Ac
counting said, "I found his stories very
surprising. I didn't expect him to talk
about what he talked about. When he
said 'I am Black and I am Gay,' it
caught me by surprise."
The next day Delany was a guest
in Dr. Parker's English 488. Ameri
can Fiction Since 1945 class. The stu
dents were talking to him about their
responses to his book "They Fly at
Ciron." Delany said that "a hook is
like a balloon and the author is on the
inside." Delany said that he grew up
in Harlem. He went to Dalton School
on Park Avenue which was a predomi
nantly white school. Being from these
two different backgrounds he was
able to listen to different kinds of lan
guage. He also said that he wanted to
be a nuclear physicist but there was
an experimental physics class that he
was a part of in high school. Delany
Volume XLVI. No. 24
or near campus
The statement that - anything is het
ter than Housing and Food Services! ..
was made by T.J. Dye. (i 4 Business
Economics.
Largest also stated that "it feels like
Housing and Food Services makes
you drop your drawers and touch your
toes." Dye responded to this state
ment by saying. "Housing and Food
Services, why you riding mine?
Kevin Andrve, 04 Biology, said
about commercial businesses, "it's a
great idea. It (more businesses ) would
create some competition which
would, in turn. lower the prices at
E3runo's. - He also said "I want rac
quetball. a bookstore with more sup
plies, and a little grocery store on cam
pus."
Katie Jilts, 02 Biology, felt that it
needed to he known that "our library
sucks! I don't know how to find any
thing." She added, "we need another
bookstore.''
SGA president Mike Zampetti said
that, "Although not many people re
sponded to the survey, those who did
responded well.-
said that it was an absolute waste of
time and he learned nothing. It was
this class that made him change his
mind. Delany also mentioned that he
is working on a comic hook called
"Bread and Wine" which is due to
come out in the near future.
Later in an interview, Delany said
that his background has had a major
effect on him and his writing. He has
had a range of experiences and a
broader experience of people which
have been quite successful. His mo
tivation for writing was that his par
ems did a lot of reading. His father
grew up near St. Augustine's, which
is a Black college. He has come from
a family of teachers and reading that
he says has rubbed off on him. When
asked what he put in science fiction
stories that other authors leave Out,
Delany said that in his stories, the hero
is not always perfect.